Live-Blogging Heroes Season 3 Premiere Night September 23, 2008

7:00 – Big TV night for me. Um, PS: NBC has put the season 2 premiere of one of my favorite shows from last year, Life, online early. This is a really smart, quality show…this premiere isn’t the best episode they’ve had, but it’s still pretty good. Check it out HERE. And watch last season for free HERE.

8:00 – Yes, I’m choosing to watch Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles over the “premiere event,” which looks like it mostly involves red carpet interviews. Sorry, it’s a Dean Winters-heavy episode, what can I say. This is more reactions than live-blogging, but if you just want to get to Heroes, skip down to 9:00.

8:01 – I can’t tell you how much I hate the new Terminator opening. Alright, here we go…Charley! And his wife, Penny on Lost! Who is totally about to be kidnapped by Cromartie. Dang it! Man, it sucks to be Charley. First his fiancé turns out to be the mother of the only hope for mankind, & then he saves said hope for mankind’s uncle, & then said fiancé’s totally like, take your wife & leave, & then his wife gets kidnapped by the crazy metal robot trying to kill said hope for mankind!

8:08 – “Sarah, he took my wife.” Dean Winters is such a good actor. Also? Derek is still kind of a jerk. Hey Derek! Remember when Charley saved your life? Yeah. Can you please not say his wife is dead? That’s just unnecessary.

8:18 – The actress playing Michelle has my undying love for the Desmond & Penny storyline of awesomeness on Lost this last year. I still kind of want to yell “It’s Penny! OMG It’s Penny!” every time she comes on the screen. I’m so sad Charley & Michelle aren’t going to be on the show for a while after this. Also? Could Cromartie’s mousetraps be a more obvious metaphor? Oh, touché! It’s a bomb!

8:26 – Can I say? This is not the time, Riley. I mean, she’s kind of snarky, but this is just not the time. Totally takes me out of the whole tense kidnapping/bomb thing.

8:28 – Sarah’s complete lack of faith in Charley’s abilities as a shooter are annoying. Doesn’t she know that’s Ryan O’Reily? Come on. If he was on his game, he would have manipulated Derek into killing her by now.

8:33 – Do you get the feeling that Michelle will be asking for a divorce like as soon as this is over? Also, why does everyone feel the need to be so frank? You don’t have to TELL Michelle you thought she’d be dead. That is not helping, Sarah. ALSO? John, as the only hope for mankind, you should really be more suspicious that when your former almost-step-father calls & your mom runs out suddenly without explanation & then calls you & is like “DON’T GO HOME,” something has happened & you should stop being distracted by the inconsequential cute girl & PAY ATTENTION SO YOU DON’T GET KILLED.

8:42 – Michelle is like, you know what? I’m good. Y’all can just continue to bicker. I’m going to get going before I bleed to death. Okay? Lots of love!

8:49 – OMG, they’re going to kill Penny! That sucks! And Sarah, you know what’s not helping? You yelling at Charley about how he should have stayed away. Don’t you think, at this point, he knows? Don’t you think, at this point, he wishes he never met you? That you weren’t selfish enough to AGREE TO MARRY HIM? That you accepted his help? Do you really think THIS is the time to start blaming him? Really? Shut up, Sarah.

8:53 – Cameron’s hair looks really good when she’s trying to hunt down John/Cromartie. Seriously? Is that the end of Cromartie? If so, that was way too easy. Oh wait, nope, there he is. So he literally walked out of the ocean. That’s kind of cool.

8:59 – Switching over to NBC. Here we go…previously on Heroes: man, how are we supposed to remember any of this? It was like a gazillion years ago! Or like 9 months. Same thing, practically. Anyway, previously, Nathan was shot. Also Future Peter has a scar on his face. Remember that. It will be important in about 30 seconds.

9:02 – And we’re back. Looks like Peter’s at the police station from the end of Volume 2. He puts on a hat & coat, goes toward the press conference where Present Peter & Matt are with Nathan, who is about to announce to everyone what they can do. Future Peter shoots Present Nathan. Present Peter & Present Matt chase Future Peter. Matt catches up with Present Peter…or, is he?? Present Peter says he lost him. Matt looks at him strangely, like maybe he’s reading his mind?

9:09 – Hiro makes a clock hand move around & around, sitting in an office in his father’s company. As a side note, I’m almost positive that I saw Masi Oka on the street in front of my office in Hollywood today. Ando comes in, calling him sir. Obviously, Hiro has inherited poor, dead George Takei’s company. Hiro reminds Ando, who is very interested in money (which makes him clearly awesome), that he has these powers & he’s bored here. So am I, Hiro. Another man comes into the office & Hiro jumps up. Ando looks at him strangely as he accepts a package. It’s a message from Hiro’s father. Dun dun dun…

9:11 – Claire packs a bag & opens her door to go find Nathan & there stands Sylar! Yay! Sylar talks a bunch & is clearly not dead, much to Claire’s surprise. Sylar’s like, I want your power! Claire is like, no thanks! And swings a trophy at Sylar. He goes down, but TK’s stuff in the house to stop her from leaving. She draws a knife, which is the very last thing you want anywhere near a crazy psycho killer who have telekenesis & wants to look at your brain. Scary, horror movie cinematography. Sylar creepily chases Claire in the dark. Chasing, chasing, not much to live-blog…

9:14 – Suddenly it’s Maya. Ugh! WHY?! Why are you still here??? She swings a bat at an entering Mohinder, who she thought was Sylar. She’s all like, um, where’s my cure? He’s like, um, I can’t help you. I’m going back to India. She’s like, oh yeah? How about some black ink tears?? He’s like, wait! We can talk! Then Mohinder, of course, gets all excited about the science behind Maya’s stupid ability. He has a ridiculous break-through. He says all he has to do is make her mad again. She’s like, um, that will kill you. That wouldn’t be so bad, Maya. Could it also kill you? That would be awesome.

9:17 – Hiro & Ando watch George Takei’s video. He says he’s leaving Hiro something sacred to keep safe. He must never open the safe. Hiro is disappointed & runs around trying to open the safe. I am kind of over Hiro. Ando awesomely tells Hiro he’s totally a disgrace to George Takei’s honor. Hiro ignores him & finds a remote that does. He opens it & inside is another package. It’s a tape with George Takei going, um, WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU! DON’T OPEN THE STUPID SAFE!! Hehe…I love George Takei. Also, people will stop at nothing to get the “formula” & Hiro must guard it with his life. Hiro finds a sheet of paper with chemistry symbols on it. Suddenly something happens & time is frozen. Ando stands there while Hiro follows a blur, which leads to a blonde girl, who suddenly unfreezes. She says she’s a speedster. She’s stolen the formula. She punches Hiro out & speeds away. I kind of like her.

9:22 – Matt finds Peter in a closet, where he’s just found the gun that shot Nathan. Matt is all like, um, where’d you know where the gun is? He reads Peter’s mind. Peter reads his mind. Mind war! Future Peter clearly has a better grasp of this than Matt, cause Matt gets that feedback pain again, while Peter just disillusions back into Future Peter, asking Matt why he had to go be a detective. (PS: I’m still trying to remember…have we seen Peter meet Candice in order to absorb her power? No, right? And she dies before the future, so he didn’t meet her there…so does Peter absorb all of Sylar’s powers? And even if he does, Sylar couldn’t absorb Candice’s power, right?) Peter teleports Matt…elsewhere. Walking out of the closet, Future Peter illusions back into Present Peter. Um. Where the hell is the real Present Peter?

9:27 – Back in Nathan’s hospital rom. Nathan = still alive. He sits up to see his suit hanging there. Meanwhile Present Peter, who is really Future Peter, comes in to see Nathan gone. Outside, a reporter is doing a live report about Nathan’s miraculous recovery when low & behold! There is he. In a suit! The reporter follows him into a church, where he tells some woman that he saw God today. He says he’s here to do great things. Future Peter follows them in & draws a gun as the reporter asks him for that message he was going to give before he went & got shot. Instead, Nathan just talks a lot about how we’re all connected. I guess that’s way not to get shot. I hope this doesn’t mean Nathan’s going to become all boring again. He tells the reporter & the women that we need to save ourselves to save the world. He stumbles & Peter catches him.

9:31 – Back with Mohinder & Maya, who are totally going to hook up, it’s so obvious. I liked her better when she was Sylar’s shiny new toy. Mohinder thinks he’s isolated the source of her power. He tells Maya that what’s in the syringe he’s holding can give power to anyone. Maya’s like, um, WHAT??? What about my cure?? Also, WHAT??? Mohinder’s like, just add adrenaline & presto! Hey Mohinder! The 4400 called. They want their plot contrivance back. Also? That storyline totally resulted in the cancellation of The 4400, you know that right?

9:32 – Back with Claire & Sylar. Claire is hiding in a closet, with the door chained. Sylar finds a box of Claire’s stuff. Um, question. Where the hell are Sandra & Lyle? Sylar monologues as he flips through HRG’s files that he’s going to find the people in them & take the best abilities first. Claire is suddenly there & stabs him with that knife. She runs but Sylar TK’s her to the door & begins his finger-head slicing thing. It’s pretty horrible & Claire’s a really good screamer, but we all know she can heal, so this is a little anticlimactic.

9:37 – Sylar is examining Claire’s open brain while simultaneously bleeding to death. They manage to both have a conversation about how much of the brain we actually use & a bunch of other things, when you would think this probably isn’t the time for chit chat. Claire asks if he’s going to eat her brain. He thinks that’s disgusting. Hehe… He finds what he’s looking for. This scene is all very Hannibal Lector in the sequel with Julianne Moore when she’s at the table with that guy who’s still alive while Hannibal eats his brains. Sylar removes the knife & heals quickly. He takes HRG’s file & places the top of Claire’s head back on her head. He starts to leave but she heals & sits up. She asks why he isn’t going to kill her? He tells her she’s not like the others & he can’t kill her. She can never die. And now neither can he! But he can be put into a coffin & buried alive!

9:40 – Maya & Mohinder & the argument of lameness. Maya’s all, you have to destroy it! Mohinder’s like, why?? It’s awesome! And then it turns out that, yes, Mohinder wants to inject himself so he can get a power & get revenge on Sylar for killing his father. Ugh. Just do the black ink tears thing, Maya. But she doesn’t. Instead, she just tells him to destroy it & storms out.

9:42 – Nathan’s back in the hospital bed. Peter is there, looking like Present Peter. It appears that yes, Nathan is just going to give boring speeches from now on. He thinks the Heroes on angels. Peter wants to know if he’s still going to tell everyone about them so he’ll know if he has to kill him again. Nathan’s like no. Peter kisses Nathan on the head & asks for forgiveness for what he did to him. He leaves…& Linderman is there! Touche, death. He tells Nathan that the two of them will do great things. I’m just so confused right now. So Linderman healed Nathan. But who healed Linderman? I’m guessing Adam?

9:44 – An older man sits watching a news report about Nathan. He says he thinks they found the one. The man is a governor & who’s there with him? Freaking Niki. F! Why! Won’t! She! Die! Freaking Niki definitely isn’t Niki anymore. She doesn’t remember Nathan. But she likes him. Oh dear God, why?? WHY?? Why is she still here??

9:49 – Desert. It’s Matt time! He’s got a scorpion on his face. EW! He gets up, knocks the scorpion off & realizes what the hell is going on. He screams & mind-reads around, but there’s no one there. Touche, stuck in a desert.

9:50 – Hiro & Ando. Hiro wants to go to the future to see what happens. He teleports out & in the future, he sees a lot of people running around. And he sees himself & Ando. Ando wants the formula. Future Hiro says no. So ANDO FREAKING ZAPS HIM WITH RED ELECTRICITY! YAY! ANDO HAS A POWER! Present Hiro looks around & the city suddenly goes black. And then he goes back to the present & tells Present Ando that they seriously need to get that formula back.

9:52 – Freaking Mohinder is at a river bank & looks like he’s going to throw the syringe away, but instead he injects himself & collapses. I hate this storyline.

9:53 – It’s Angela Petrelli! She’s in Nathan’s hospital room. She can tell that Peter isn’t present Peter. She’s like, um, where’s Present Peter? I want to know that too! She says that he inherited his first ability, the dreams, from her. Touche! KNEW she had an ability! She knew he was coming. He’s messed stuff up by shooting Nathan. She tells him to go back to where he came from & demands to know where he put Present Peter. Cut to what we know is Level 5, where a person who is not Peter Petrelli screams that he is. We pan through some people who are demonstrating abilities, including what looks like Elle’s blue electricity, & then we pan to HRG Noah! Yay! He’s bouncing that same ball he had last year. He hears Non-Peter’s screaming & is clearly thinking, hey! I know that one.

9:55 – Sandra & Lyle FINALLY get home & see Claire there, all bloody & crying. Matt finds a painting with the Godsend symbol on a rock in the desert. Sylar walks through the suburbs hilariously. Freaking Niki looks at Nathan’s picture on the TV. Some thugs find Mohinder & demand his money. They try to shoot him, but he crushes the gun & super-strength throws one of them into the river. He looks at his hands, freaked out. Behind him is the same painting of the Godsend symbol. Touche, super Mohinder.

9:57 – Heroes continues NOW. Claire tells Sandra that Sylar isn’t coming back because he got what he came for. She tells her that “it wasn’t that,” & then she puts her hand in some glass. But then it doesn’t look like her hand is healing…and she says she feels no pain. Oh wait, yes it did heal. Hmm. Interesting. Claire says she always liked the pain because it made her feel like she was still human. Touche.

9:59 – Angela Petrelli walks into…somewhere, where Hiro is dead with Kensei’s sword sticking out of him. Matt is also dead. And someone kills Claire & there’s a lot of blod. And then there’s the vilians, including Sylar, Freaking Niki, Adam Monroe…and of course, it’s a dream. She finds Peter & he’s building a Five-Years-Gone string theory timeline. He tells her he knows stuff she doesn’t. She says that he can’t mess with this stuff. It’s the butterfly effect. She tells him that because he talked to Claire, she listened to him & stayed home & bad stuff happened, aka now Sylar can’t die, you dope.

10:02 – Maya shows up & Mohinder is performing acrobatics. He’s all shirtless & sweaty & gleeful about the non-side-effects of his newfound abilities. He can also climb the wars like Spider-Man. He says he’s the same, but different. He can give powers to anyone & soon, he’ll be able to take them away, like hers. PS: This is how Ando can one day get a power. He comes over & touches her face & kisses her. They make out & he takes out her shirt. She agrees, yep, he’s different.

10:08 – Matt in the desert. He should probably take off that collared shirt, isn’t he hot? He’s getting delirious in the sun & collapses. Poor Matt. Annnd scene.

10:09 – Music. We see a car with a camera in it come up to Sylar, still in the ‘burbs. Two men try to take him in & Sylar promptly kills them. Out of the camera pic, we see Elle! She’s with Bob, of course. Bob continues to blame Elle for the whole Sylar-getting-away thing. She promises that she’ll find him. Bob calmly says she’ll just let them both down. Elle angrily turns away. You know that Elle is eventually going to kill Bob, right?

10:10 – Ando & Hiro. Very little ever happens with them. They discover Speedster’s name is Daphne. Ando doesn’t understand why Hiro is about to go find Daphne without him. Hiro hesitates, then touches Ando on the shoulder & they blink away.

10:11 – Freaking Niki & the Governor. They argue about if Nathan is the right choice. Sounds like they want him as a candidate for something. Freaking Niki is definitely sleeping him, in case you were wondering. Also, she wants him to appoint Nathan the junior senator of the state. On the way out, in the parking garage, a reporter comes up to her, showing her the pic of Freaking Niki’s stripping gig from way back in the first part of season 1. She doesn’t remember it & tells him if he runs it, she’ll hunt him down.

10:13 – Ando & Hiro have teleported to some place with the Mona Lisa. And cut to Claire, who is making another tape, minus Zach, who being the only hope for human kind & comforting poor Dean Winters. She is still wondering if she’s human now that she can’t feel. She tells the camera this is attempt #7 & stands in front of a train. Just before it hits her, Future Peter (still as Present Peter) saves her. He asks what happened to her. She says something awful. I’ll say.

10:18 – Claire tells Peter what happened. Peter says this wasn’t supposed to happen. He says it’s his fault. She says it’s not, it’s his fault she can’t defend herself. She asks him to teach her. He says not him, not now, what with the whole changing-the-future thing. He teleports away.

10:20 – Nathan is in Odessa, praying. Freaking Niki is there. He clearly remembers her. She offers him the junior senator thing. He calls her Niki & she is confused. He reminds her of the whole thing with them sleeping together in Vegas thing. She says her name is Tracy. She gives him and leave, passing Linderman on the way. Linderman says that maybe it’s supposed to be like this. Someone who looks like Niki, offering him the chance of a lifetime. This is God’s plan, he says. Nathan thinks otherwise. He kicks Linderman out.

10:22 – Elle comes into his father’s office. She’s trying to convince that Sylar’s going to go after the Level 5 Heroes, but Bob’s chair is facing away from her & he doesn’t answer, which we all know means Bob is dead, yo. Elle stops short when she sees this. The top of his head is cut off. Elle walks rapidly into Level 5 & goes to Noah’s cell. She throws him a gun & tells him Sylar is in the building. She turns to leave the cell but is knocked back via TK. Noah comes out & shots Sylar like 10 times. He looks dead for like a second, then the bullets all fall out of him & he heals. He tells Noah he got that from Claire, then proceeds to TK Noah up into the ceiling & drops him, leaving him unconscious, but not dead. The prisoners in Level 5 are all banging on the glass. The one who keeps saying he’s Peter is played by Francis Capra, who was Weevil on Veronica Mars, making this a Veronica Mars reunion! Yay! He yells out Sylar to leave Veronica/Elle alone, but Sylar comes over to stand over Elle, who is still sprawled out on the floor. He taunts her by turning Noah’s gun into gold, then starts to slice open her head, but a burst of her blue electricity knocks him back. And commercials.

10:28 – Back at Level 5, Francis/Peter comes to stand over Elle, who is alive. He tells her he’s Peter. She looks confused & out of it. Noah drags the prone form of Sylar away. Did I mention it’s dark & there are alarms everywhere? I’m so happy Elle & Noah are alive!

10:29 – Hiro & Ando. Hiro continues to act shifty around Ando, since Ando kills him with a power in the future & all. Ando is like, um, what? I’m your best friend! Hiro’s like, whatev. He says they need to set a trap. I’m bored by this storyline.

10:30 – Future Peter comes in to see Nathan, who tells him about the offer. Peter says he needs to show Nathan something & illusions back into Future Peter. Nathan steps back. Peter tells him he had to shoot him because he had to save them from a world where the Heroes are hunted. But it’s gone all wrong. Nathan asks him if he should take the offer, since he’s from the future & all. But Peter needs to go set things right, so he teleports the hell out of there. Nathan calls Tracy & accepts the offer. He tells her he has to have her on his staff. As she gets out of her car, the reporter comes up to her again & shows her the security video of her & Nathan. She yells at her that he can’t do the story & grabs his arm. And then? He completely freezes & then breaks apart & melts! It’s an extremely cool special effect. Freaking Niki/Tracy is freaked out, clearly not realizing she had a power. She runs away as the pieces of the reporter melt away. Whoa.

10:39 – Sylar lies unconscious in Level 5 as Elle looks on. Angela Petrelli comes in & tells her she’s assuming command now that Bob is dead. Angela tells her that her short-out blew out the facility & the rest of the prisoners are gone, as is Noah. Angela unceremoniously fires Elle, telling her they only kept her around because her father insisted. Elle’s like, this was my whole life! Angela’s like, touché. Better get going on a new one! Man. Sucks to be Elle.

10:40 – Hiro & Ando…still setting the stupid trap. Ando continues to try to convince Hiro that he’s not going to kill him. Daphne shows up. Hiro & her play a game of are-you-faster-than-me. Blah, blah, blah, eventually Daphne holds a knife to Ando’s neck & Hiro has to let her go with the formula. It’s really hard to live-blog their scenes since they’re speaking in subtitles most of the time & I’m trying to type at the same time. Luckily, they also happen to be the scenes I care the least about!

10:43 – Mohinder & Maya in bed. Something’s wrong with Mohinder. Well, DUH, Mohinder. He goes to a mirror & realizes that pieces of his place are like acid-ing off. He picks a piece of his flesh out of his back. It’s pretty gross. That’s what you get, Mohinder.

10:46 – Don’t forget! Special premiere of Life after Heroes next week!

10:47 – Back to Matt in the desert. He’s still all collapsed. A turtle comes up to him & says hello. Literally. It tells him to drink the nearby plant for water. He does & it’s hilarious. “Thank you, turtle!” A dude comes up to him & is like, um, why are you talking to a turtle? He gives him actual water. Turns out Matt’s in Africa. Matt needs the dude’s phone. Dude doesn’t have cell service here. “Should have gone with Sprint.” HA! Love you, Dude. A name would be great, btw. Dude then calls Matt by his name & is all like, you’re not supposed to be here. It isn’t the future I saw. Matt just wants to get back to the States, but Dude is like, no, stay, please. He tells Matt to follow him.

10:50 – Claire’s house. Noah’s downstairs, working on a computer. Claire comes to hug him & he asks if she’s alright. No, but she’s better now that he’s here. But he’s not staying.

10:51 – Linderman & Nathan play chess. Nathan says this time, he won’t let Linderman manipulate him this time. A nurse comes in & is like bedtime. Nathan’s like, um, in the middle of a game here! She’s like, with yourself?? TOUCHE! Linderman’s totally not really there. Or, as he says, only Nathan can see him. So does that mean he’s a figment of Nathan’s imagination? Or that he’s actually there, but only Nathan can see him?

10:52 – Back with Noah & Claire, he introduces her on the computer to the Level 5 dudes, including Francis/Peter, who’s actually called Jesse, & apparently has a power he doesn’t even want to talk about. Noah tells her they are villains & he’s one of the few who can stop them. Claire says she can help. And then Sandra comes in & says they can’t protect her here, but her real mom can. And there’s Meredith, who does the whole firestarter thing again, just in case we forgot what she can do.

10:54 – Future Peter comes in to Level 5, looking for Present Peter. Angela tells him that they’ve all escaped. Future Peter’s like, um. I kinda put Present Peter into Jesse’s body. Angela’s like, you did WHAT?! You go find him this instant!

10:56 – Meanwhile Present Peter is in a phone booth, calling Nathan. He tells Nathan to look out for him. Only with a scar. But then we see his reflection & yep, he still looks like Francis/Jesse. Another escaped Level 5-er disconnects his call & says their ride is here. Present Peter follows him to some other Level 5-ers who are burning & torturing some people. Peter reluctantly follows them into the car. Touche, why does Peter always end up in random places at the beginning of the season?

10:57 – Angela comes into Sylar’s cell & calls him Gabriel. She tells him she’ll give him what all sons want from their mothers. Sylar looks at her & tells her his name is Sylar & she’s not his mother. Angela leans in & tells him, actually…she is. WHAT??

10:59 – Coming on Heroes, Injections for everyone! Noah & Sylar, partners! Future Claire is all doling out pain! Peter is just like Sylar! Get excited!

11:00 – What did we think? I thought it was pretty solid. Engaging, actually had enough stuff packed into two hours to justify the longer premiere (unlike, say, Bones). Did a nice job of reintroducing pretty much all of the necessary characters & catch us up to their storylines, especially considering it’s been nine months since we’ve had an episode. I’ll say this, it’s not worth it to think too much about it. It’s an entertaining show. I’m going to watch it for the entertainment value. Also, just so everyone knows, I will be blogging it this season, but it will probably be more of a reactions/live-bloglet type thing. Too much happens too fast to really do it regularly. And I have no DVR this year! That’s right. I don’t know what I was thinking either.